1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of fastening devices. More particularly, this invention concerns releasable fastening devices specially useful in temporarily securing a cymbal on a mounting shaft.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cymbals are musical instruments that require firm support during use. They are generally large, disk-shaped slightly concave objects made of bronze or brass and range in outside diameter from as small as three inches to as large as thirty inches or more and vary in thickness and weight so as to provide a substantial range of sound. Virtually all cymbals have a center mounting hole ranging in diameter from one-half to nine-sixteenths of an inch for placement over a cymbal-mounting rod that is generally associated with a music stand or other support structure.
When playing the cymbals, the musician strikes them with sticks or brushes and such effort often causes the cymbal to swing wildly about its center mounting hole. If not adequately secured, the cymbal could to bounce off the mounting shaft and fall to the floor causing a substantial amount of disconcerting noise as well as the potential for injury to person and property.
Most cymbals are retained on cymbal-mounting shafts with wing nuts that are twisted down over the threaded shaft end. The use of wing nuts while adequate to hold the cymbal on the shaft takes far too much time to accommodate the rapid change needed for many musical arrangement. In addition, the twisting, by hand, of steel wing nuts against a bronze or brass surface raises the potential of causing scratches in the surface that may create unwanted changes in the tone of the cymbal. In addition, the use of wing nuts causes a person's hands to contact the cymbals where body acids and oils attack the surface finish of the cymbals. Still further, the diameter and thread size of the cymbal mounting shafts vary with the manufacturer and therefore the user is required to carry with him or her a wide variety of wing nuts that increase the cost of utilization of such mounting techniques.
Some advances have been made in this prior art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,994,198; 4,122,750; 4,216,695; 4,319,514 and 4,365,535 all show various fixtures that have been developed for use in temporarily retaining a cymbal on a cymbal-mounting shaft. All of these devices are made of metal and contain highly engineered parts that are costly to manufacture and are subject to breakage. In addition, these devices involve the use of metals that have the same potential for causing damage as the wing nuts previously described. Further, these patented devices, being of metal, in many respects bear against the cymbal thus causing unwanted changes in its sound. Some of the patented devices are usable with threaded shafts and some are not so that more than one type of patented device must be carried with the individual in order to facilitate utilization with all of the various types of cymbal mounting rods used in the profession.
Accordingly, there still remains a need in the industry for a quick-release fastener that is usable with a wide variety of cymbal mounting shafts, both threaded and unthreaded, of varying diameters, and that have threads of various sizes and thicknesses; a device that will not damage the surface of the cymbal and that may be placed against the cymbal without causing an unwanted change in the sound of the cymbal; a device that is inexpensive to produce and that may be used with a wide variety of different cymbals and cymbal mounting shafts.